


After the Battle

by KirbyPaint



Category: Pathfinder (Roleplaying Game)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-01
Updated: 2018-07-01
Packaged: 2019-06-01 00:47:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15131399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KirbyPaint/pseuds/KirbyPaint
Summary: Angela returns home having only completed half her mission.





	After the Battle

For all of her work, both in her years in the medical field, and more recently her work liberating the former slaves from Jaan, Angela never once regretted the corners she's had to cut. But now, standing on the deck of the ship taking her back home, she began to question herself. _Is this going to be worth it?_ she asked. She knew her return was contingent on two things: returning with the crystal, and returning with Sybil.

 

She only possessed one of the two.

 

Immediately following their fight with the Shaden Lord Dorian Beaumont, Sybil had fled. Angela didn't even try to pursue – she couldn't morally have brought Sybil back home, only to have her be led to her execution. That would go against Angela's entire code of conduct as a doctor. So she sighed, bid a farewell to her newfound friends and allies, and left shortly after for the first ship home.

 

And now, as she stood on the deck, still ruminating on her decision, she paused. _What's it going to be like now? Will they let me back in my office?_

 

“Unlikely,” she muttered out loud, grabbing the attention of a deckhand. He paused, about to offer to assist, but she waved him back, thanking him for his care anyway.

 

_It's not like there are any better doctors than I,_ she chuckled grimly. _Cassius is competent, and Michael and Uriel are coming along nicely, but... none of them have any compassion. Only desire to see their technology advance._

 

The boat began its slowdown to meet the docks, and Angela donned her pack. She was among the first to dismount the ship, and it wasn't hard for her to grab a carriage to town. She, being a Parisa, had all the connections needed to return home swiftly and safely.

 

As the central tower came into view, Angela took a deep breath, and steeled herself for the unpleasant conversation she knew she was about to have.

 

* * *

 

 

Cassius greeted her at the gate, his classic stern glare still plastered to his face. Apparently not even a friend of twenty years could get him to truly smile.

 

“Angela, come with me please,” he commanded, and had Angela not respected him, she would have asked him to try that again. He was the lead of R&D, but she was (currently, at least) the head medic, so they had equal standing.

 

“What, I don't even get a 'nice to see you?'” She tried to joke, but it fell flat, as he ignored her and simply kept walking. She followed, fearing that maybe she was walking to a much more dire situation than she had planned for.

 

They arrived at his office. Nothing had changed, apparently, since the last time she was here.

 

“Sit,” he commanded again.

 

“No Cassius, I will stand. Tell me what you have to say to me.”

 

He groaned quietly – maybe her old friend was still there. “What is your report on the mission?”

 

Angela summarized her travels – what she could remember, at least – fairly well. She took occasional liberties on the more covert aspects of her mission, but the point came across. Once she finished her brief monologue, she withdrew the small chunk of Star Shard from her satchel and placed it on the desk between them.

 

Cassius was visibly impressed at that. “Angela, I'm both relieved and proud of you that you were able to at least return the star shard. But I'm sure you remember you had two conditions to fulfill – so tell me, Doctor, where is Sybil?”

 

Angela knew if she even tried to lie, he would catch her in an instant. “I don't know.” That, at least, was truth.

 

“But you came across her, certainly? Else you wouldn't have retrieved the gem.”

 

She paused, then - “Yes. We were in contact. We traveled together. And I let her go. I could not bring her to her death here.”

 

His face became stony. Cassius reached his hand behind his back slowly but surely. “Doctor Parisa, you do understand that by admitting that, you are in direct violation of an order from the council?”

 

Angela simply nodded. Cassius appeared to flinch, but then steeled his resolve. “Very well then. Under the order of the Council, I must escort you to the holding cells, where you will then await judgment.”

 

Angela didn't move. She met his gaze, her hand twitching on her staff. Cassius sighed, then whispered, “Please, I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I must.” Angela stood, unmoving and unblinking, daring him to make the first move. Had she not just been in constant combat, she might have missed the flick of his wrist, summoning the chains from the floor. She deftly dodged them, in the small office, and smacked them away with her staff. The chains fell, lying like dead metal snakes, and Cassius leapt over the desk. She used his momentum to throw him into the wall, causing the nearby bookshelf to fall. He stood up, a dagger in his hand, and lunged again. _So he's fighting to kill._

 

A dark rage filled Angela, and before she could consider fighting it, she realized she had Cassius pinned to the desk by his throat. She held him stationary with one hand, the other holding her enchanted gun to his jaw.

 

“Cassius, you absolute moron,” she growled, a dark entity joining in her speech. His eyes widened in fear as he realized that whoever this woman was, she was not the doctor he had seen last.

 

“You have no idea what lies beyond our walls, do you? What monsters and beasts that a normal mortal couldn't ever dream of? I know them, I've seen them, and I've killed them. You just sit behind a desk and pretend to give a shit. One day, these office walls that you so desperately love will crumble down, from forces beyond your meager brain's comprehension, and on that day, thanks to _your council_ , I will not be here to pick up the pieces.” Angela, now cursed with dark rage, shot him in the gut, carefully aiming her shot to avoid any major organs.

 

She stormed out of his office, trying to wrestle control of her body back from the darkness that occasionally took control. She walked as briskly as possible, trying both to rush to her office and to do so without attracting any more attention. Just as she reached her door, the city alarm blared, and she knew her time limit to grab anything just halved.

 

Angela dashed for her desk, flipping the secret compartment open, and grabbing her books of top-tier secret research. She rifled through her bedside compartment, looking for anything of sentimental value that she knew she wouldn't want to live without, and one photo of her and Cassius in their early days drifted onto the floor. She hesitated – did she really want his memory carried with her?

 

The footsteps nearing her office door caused her to panic. She grabbed the photo, then shot out her bedroom window. Thankfully it was a large, gaudy thing that had no purpose being in a private bedroom, let alone anywhere but a mansion, so she jumped out with ease. She stretched her wings and flew off towards the forest.

 

_I have my books, my staff, my gun, and some clothes. Anything else is lost to me now. Breathe, and get to safety._ Angela bid a silent farewell to the city she'd lived in for her entire life, checking behind her that she wasn't being followed.

 

An exhausting hour of stress-induced flight later, she collapsed in a tree in the northern forest. She chugged her water as quickly as she was able, and just relaxed. She would pay for that strain in the morning, so best make the recovery as easy as possible.

 

* * *

 

 

Angela caught herself on two ships in one week. A bit excessive, in her opinion, but until commercial airships caught on, there was no better way to flee a continent. This time, however, she was a stowaway. She hadn't thought to grab any coins, and only had what was left over from her adventure in Jaan. The captain was gracious, at least – she offered medical service in exchange for any seat on the ship, and he seemed pleased to take her up on that. _At least the Parisa name still holds weight_...

 

After multiple days of travel, the captain informed her that they had arrived at a small-ish port town near the Twin Cities. She thanked him for his courtesy, and dismounted the ship.

 

“Time to start anew,” she pronounced, and marched toward the town center.

 

**Author's Note:**

> this was contrived so she could be in the same place as my other character LOL also this was entirely written during Pink Floyd's "The Wall" albums. Made it all the way to "The Trial." but the council didn't : )


End file.
